Known For
Acting
Born
Nov 04, 1920
Died
Apr 13, 1995
Place of Birth
Texas, USA
Credits
50 titles
Bill Thurman
Biography
Character actor Bill Thurman was born on November 4, 1920 in Texas. A large, rugged, stocky man with a hard, lined, puffy face, a deep, twangy, amicable voice, a strong, bulky build and a charmingly low-key and down-to-earth unaffected natural screen presence, Thurman often portrayed police officers and assorted scruffy redneck types in a huge number of entertainingly cheap'n'cheesy Southern-fried fright flicks and delightfully down'n'dirty drive-in fare made throughout the 60s and 70s. Bill frequently acted in features for legendary Grade Z low-budget independent filmmaker Larry Buchanan; said movies include "The Eye Creatures," "High Yellow," "Zontar the Thing from Venus," "Mars Needs Women," "Curse of the Swamp Creature," "In the Year 2889," the especially atrocious "It's Alive!," and "A Bullet for Pretty Boy." Moreover, Thurman had bit parts in two Steven Spielberg films: he's a hillbilly hunter in "The Sugerland Express" and an air traffic controller in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Bill's other memorable roles include the abusive Coach Popper in Peter Bogdanovich's magnificent "The Last Picture Show," a doomed hitchhiker in "Keep My Grave Open," a corrupt sheriff in the Claudia Jennings exploitation classic "'Gatorbait," a mean small town deputy in "Ride in A Pink Car," a more amiable sheriff in the fantastic Bigfoot winner "Creature from Black Lake," Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith's father in "Slumber Party '57," a priest in "The Evictors," and the boozy, dissolute Reverend Bill McWiley in the enjoyably crummy "Mountaintop Motel Massacre." Bill Thurman died in Dallas, Texas on April 13, 1995. - IMDb Mini Biography By: woodyanders
Known For
Filmography
Painted Hero
Old Man Bolen
In Broad Daylight
Virgil Teague
It Takes Two
Bus Driver
Hawken's Breed
Jeb Kline
The Long Hot Summer
Houstin
Silverado
Carter
Stormin' Home
Bailiff
Alamo Bay
Sheriff
Innocent Prey
Jim Gardner
Mountaintop Motel Massacre
Reverend Bill McWiley
The Long Summer of George Adams
Floyd
Raggedy Man
Sheriff
Skyward
Pilot #1
Tom Horn
Ora Haley
The Sky Trap
Sheriff
The Evictors
Preacher Higgins
The Beasts Are on the Streets
Carl Evans
Dallas
Phil Bradley
Keep My Grave Open
Hitchhiker
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Air Traffic
Charge of the Model T's
Sgt. Bond
Slumber Party '57
Mr. Willis
Creature from Black Lake
Sheriff Billy Carter
The Florida Connection
Deke
'Gator Bait
Sheriff Joe Bob Thomas
Where the Red Fern Grows
Sam Bellington
Ride in a Pink Car
Barlow
The Sugarland Express
Hunter
The Pickle Goes in the Middle
Mr. Stanovich
Encounter with the Unknown
Second Man
Fair Play
Jed Bartrum
The Last Picture Show
Coach Popper
Strawberries Need Rain
Key Grip
A Bullet for Pretty Boy
Huddy
It's Alive
Greely / Monster
Hell Raiders
Tex
In the Year 2889
Tim Henderson
Mars Needs Women
Drunk on Pier
The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde
Policeman (uncredited)
Curse of the Swamp Creature
Driscoll West / The Swamp Creature
Zontar: The Thing from Venus
Sheriff Brad Crenshaw
Night Fright
Deputy Ben Whitfield
The Eye Creatures
Sergeant
Hip Hot and 21
Lt. Lang
Spiked Heels and Black Nylons
Abel
Sam
The Black Cat
Bartender
Hot Blooded Woman
Railroad Tough
High Yellow
Major Bates
The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald
Witness